You take the good, you take the bad, you take ... some more bad and there you have Lisa Whelchel's year, apparently. Oh my god, you guys, what the hell happened to BlairWarner?! I guess I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with the actress since The Facts of Life went off the air, because until recently I still thought of her as Eastland's resident poor little rich girl, rooming with Jo (poor little poor girl), Natalie (poor little chubby girl) and Tootie (poor little Jermaine Jackson-loving girl). Remember what a royal bee-yotch she was in the beginning of the series? Then later she softened up, and everybody sort of got along, which was good cause they had to run Edna's Edibles with Mrs. Garrett and go to Florida on Spring Break (Natalie's feet got so sunburned! They were like two baked potatoes!) and audition to be backup singers for El DeBarge: We love El DeBarge, we think he's the greatest/We love Teen Scene, it's the greatest too ...

Jeez, did I do anything as a kid besides watch The Facts of Life?!

Anyway. Lisa Whelchel is back on TV, except this time it's reality TV, as in Survivor: Philippines. Which should be a positive development, right? Except she doesn't seem like she's in a particularly positive place, or at least she didn't on tonight's episode, when she completely broke down during a reunion with little brother Justice Coleman. Even Coleman was concerned:

"I wasn't prepared to see her at that level of desperation. It was immediately obvious she had hit rock bottom. I wasn't expecting her to be at the end of her rope. I almost didn't recognize her. She looked absolutely ragged: Physically and emotionally torn up. I was imagining a big smile on her face, since she was so deep into the game and doing so well, but she started crying so hard. I was legitimately concerned for her."

Well, to be fair, Whelchel did recently go through a divorce. After 3 (now grown) children and 24 years of marriage. So that was probably really traumatic. And then last month she was diagnosed with West Nile Virus! So, tough times. But Blair, I mean Lisa, already possesses the wisdom she needs to get through this difficult period:

When the world never seems/To be livin' up to your dreams/And suddenly you're findin' out/The Facts of Life are all about you

THE FACTS OF LIFE ARE ALL ABOUT YOU.

Seriously, I'm worried about Blair. Where's Mrs. Garrett when you really need her? Or even Mrs. Garrett's replacement, what's-her-name. Or hell, howzabout George Clooney takes her out for a night on the town? God knows he owes his former cast members a round.

Were you a fan of The Facts of Life? Are you surprised to see how Blair turned out?